Human Skin Refugees

Old Master Ning had Old Master Ning's own affairs to keep him busy, and Young Master Ning had his as well.

He had already thrown the matter of marriage entirely to his father, because his marriage was no longer merely his own concern—it involved the safety and future of the entire Ning Family.

He would never ruin his father's grand plans for the sake of love.

Whomever his father pointed to, he would marry. At most, there would be one more person beside his pillow, sharing the same bed but dreaming different dreams.

His own busyness lay in his daily training and growth.

At dusk today, he came to Manfeng Mountain once again.

He stood at a high point. With the mountain's demon trouble resolved, quite a few woodcutters and hunters now traveled its paths.

The woodcutters carried firewood on their backs, while the hunters hauled the wild beasts they had slain, making their way down the mountain steps.

Ning Xuan watched for a while, growing increasingly curious.

Where exactly had the Stealing Incense Rat gone?

That thing was like a blade hanging overhead, ready to fall at any moment. Just thinking about it made his heart restless.

After watching for some time, Ning Xuan suddenly remembered Tang Chuan's hasty farewell that day.

He turned his gaze northward.

Ping'an Prefecture and Wangyue Prefecture bordered each other.

Passing through Manfeng Mountain and heading a little farther northwest would bring one to the west of Ping'an Prefecture.

If he remembered correctly, the Celestial Master of Ping'an Prefecture had said that a terrifying demon scourge had appeared in the prefecture's west.

Could it have run off to Ping'an Prefecture?

Ning Xuan felt that was genuinely possible.

But then he recalled the Ping'an Prefecture Celestial Master saying, "Black smoke billowed in waves—it was practically a demon tide," and immediately felt that something was off.

What was the Stealing Incense Rat? He knew perfectly well. Where would some rolling demon tide come from?

After thinking for a while, he shook his head.

The benefits of dealing with demons in Ping'an Prefecture would all go to others. No matter how curious he was, he would not go running over there.

As he thought, a streak of dark-blue light suddenly shot from his chest. It abruptly settled before him, letting out a piercing hum.

This flying knife could carry his Swallow Cry Force.

Combined with high-speed rotation, it could fully merge two jins and unleash Yan He.

Yan He's two jins consisted of one technique and one writhing of flesh and blood—one visible jin and one hidden jin.

But now, he did not merely possess two kinds of jin. He had a third.

After some thought, Ning Xuan came to a valley.

The Golden Body Bodhisattva slowly sat cross-legged beneath the setting sun.

The Bodhisattva lowered its hand and plucked at empty space, pinching out a dark-blue "leaf." Then its five fingers spread, and the "leaf" shot forth at once, piercing a boulder before whirling back through the air.

The "leaf" was utterly unscathed, its thin blade not damaged in the slightest.

Perhaps I can merge Bodhisattva Jin into Yan He as well. Then I can unleash all three jins at once, and the power will rise by far more than double.

Ning Xuan began to ponder.

Demons did not know martial arts.

But the martial world's atmosphere in this world was exceedingly strong.

This Bodhisattva Golden Body was merely an enormous shell possessing brute strength.

Then naturally, he could layer Bodhisattva Jin into his own attacks as well—without dispersing it, concentrating everything at one point and striking out with the fastest speed and greatest explosive force.

He had fought the Stealing Incense Rat.

He was certain that even without using the Bodhisattva Golden Body, a single Yan He unleashed with his 5.25 physique could cleave the Stealing Incense Rat's Bodhisattva shell in two.

And if he added Bodhisattva Jin as well...

Ning Xuan's eyes filled with thought as he began experimenting.

Several days later.

Deep in the mountains.

The Golden Body Bodhisattva sat unmoving, its expression compassionate. With two fingers, it pinched the dark-blue leaf as though plucking a flower, then sent the leaf forth as if bestowing a gift.

In an instant, dense, shrill cries rang through the air, like a flock of swallows chattering noisily.

Wherever the leaf flew, an unimaginable pressure formed in the air. Though the leaf had not even touched anything and the rocks were only grazed by the outer airflow, they shattered outright.

When the leaf reached a mountain peak and pierced through its tip—

A thunderous boom rang out.

The mountaintop, unable to withstand the force, shattered directly. The immense impact carried the peak crashing down toward the ground.

The Golden Body Bodhisattva raised a hand, its palm supporting the mountain peak and lowering it slowly to the ground.

The few monkeys atop it, frozen like wooden chickens, suddenly seemed to have their souls returned. With strange shrieks, they fled in all directions.

Ning Xuan put away the Golden Body Bodhisattva form and his flying knives.

I'll call this move Yan Chao.

He happily stretched his body.

This way, if he encountered the Stealing Incense Rat again, he could shatter it with a single Yan Chao strike and directly kill the rat demon hidden inside the Bodhisattva shell.

He knew perfectly well where the rat demon hid within the Bodhisattva shell.

He himself hid in the Golden Body Bodhisattva's heart, because after repeated tests, he had found that this was the place where the three forces were most easily twisted together. The rat demon, meanwhile, stayed in the Golden Body Bodhisattva's stomach, because that was where it was easiest to eat.

Ning Xuan rather wanted to go find the Stealing Incense Rat.

The Stealing Incense Rat would definitely have magical treasures, but... he could bring a Celestial Master too.

Still, it was only a thought. He would not go resolve trouble on someone else's turf without getting even the slightest benefit.

Whistling, Ning Xuan sauntered out of the mountains.

Gentle rose-colored sunset clouds, mountain winds carrying the fragrance of late spring—and tonight, he would once again soak himself in that cloying Rouge Fragrance.

As he ran, a shrill, abrupt scream suddenly reached his ears.

The scream was utterly out of place amid the present atmosphere.

From the distant forest came a bloodcurdling cry.

It did not stop abruptly after a single scream, but came in broken intervals, half weeping, half howling.

Ning Xuan found it strangely familiar.

After thinking for a moment—

Wasn't that the miserable scream he had made when he was being eaten?

His figure shifted slightly as he swept toward the source of the cries.

The screams gradually became clearer, but also steadily weaker.

At last, the scene came into Ning Xuan's view.

It was a man—a brawny man, as strong as the Demon-Plague Warrior beside the purple-robed Daoist that day.

His spirit was full, his breath abundant, his muscles bulging; even his temples protruded, as though his body were filled with inexhaustible power.

Yet this burly man was shriveling up in a bizarre and horrifying fashion.

His skull had deflated like a balloon losing its air, shrinking into a wrinkled lump, while the bones inside his head had vanished without a trace.

His body was shrinking too.

By the time Ning Xuan saw him, he had already shrunk terribly.

By the time Ning Xuan approached, he had become a sheet of skin.

Human skin.

Following the contours of the land, the human skin lay spread across the wilderness, ridged and hollowed with striking shape.

Just then, Ning Xuan suddenly felt a cold, piercing sensation lunging at him.

At a thought, a layer of golden light emerged over his body.

How could the Bodhisattva Golden Body be such an inconvenient thing?

He could make it as many zhang tall as he wished; it simply could not be condensed.

At this moment, the golden light merely covered his body in a faint layer.

He saw the golden light before his eyeballs seem to be struck by something, ripples spreading through it.

Immediately afterward, a strange "ding" rang beside his ear.

Then, that thing struck the area before his nostrils as well.

Ding~~

Ripples began spreading over every acupoint on his body that connected to his insides.

Ning Xuan could not see the thing. He could only judge its position from the ripples in the golden light.

At the instant of another collision, he was ready. Swallow Cry Force abruptly erupted across his body's surface, crashing directly into the invisible thing.

Sizzle.

A sound like snow meeting boiling soup rang out.

It was accompanied by an indescribable, monstrous shriek.

A clump of black smoke surfaced in the air. Blown by the wind, it quickly dispersed.

The thing did not attack again. It was clearly dead.

Although Ning Xuan did not know what it was, he swiftly formed a preliminary understanding of this unknown invisible creature: it was formless, liked boring into human bodies, possessed little offensive power, yet could eat everything but a person's skin clean—and it could be killed.

He glanced at the Human Skin on the ground, then, with a thought, swept farther into the distance.

Several li later, he saw another Human Skin—a brocade-robed old man, sprawled on the ground together with his fine clothes.

He continued north.

After another dozen or so li, he saw yet another Human Skin.

But this time, something was different. The Human Skin was "inflating," rising to its feet.

Ning Xuan stepped forward and casually pressed down.

Bang!

The Human Skin, along with the air filling it, exploded outright.

A wisp of black smoke dispersed amid a shriek.

A trace of foreboding rose in his heart.

He continued north. More than thirty li later, he saw a richly dressed, jewel-bedecked beautiful woman on the mountain road, arranging her hair. When she spotted him, she suddenly cried out piteously, "Save me, save me! I'm willing to do anything."

Her voice was incomparably pitiful, as though she had encountered something utterly terrifying and had reached the point of selling everything she had just to stay alive.

Ning Xuan sighed softly and threw a punch.

Bang!

The beautiful woman shattered. Her skin scattered like butterflies, while the air within let out a strange cry, turning into black smoke and dissipating.

Ning Xuan gained several more insights into these invisible monstrosities: they could occupy human bodies and imitate the words people had spoken while alive.

By now, night had fallen, and the bright moon hung high in the sky.

Ning Xuan considered it, then continued onward.

This time, he traveled more than a hundred li in one go.

He had never imagined that, at a time like this, deep in such mountains, he would still see a cluster of crimson campfire flames.

Two guards sat beside the fire, talking with tense expressions.

"This demon calamity can't be held back anymore. Good thing our master fled quickly."

"Yeah. Servants like us have been blessed by association. Once we reach Wangyue Prefecture, we should be safe."

"Wangyue Prefecture? It's quite close to our Ping'an Prefecture too. Shouldn't we be running farther away?"

"What do you know? Master is well informed. Since he says we should go to Wangyue Prefecture, he must have his reasons."

Smack!

Suddenly, the sound of someone landing rang out.

The two guards jumped up in fright, hands gripping their sword hilts as they looked toward the newcomer.

"Who goes there?!"

When they saw that the arrival was only a youth, both of them let out a breath and relaxed.

One of the guards said, "Little brother, why are you alone in these deep mountains and ancient woods in the dead of night?"

Ning Xuan stared at him for a long while before letting out a long sigh. "You ghostly things can actually imitate people to this extent?"

Before his eyes, this guard had abundant qi and blood and could react promptly according to his surroundings, no longer like that beautiful woman from before, who could only repeat "the words she had spoken in life."

It seemed that what he had seen earlier was the process of these ghostly things going from "eating people," to "occupying people," to "becoming people."

And these two guards were now in their complete forms.

Still, there was good news: one ghostly thing could only occupy one body. This was a kind of body-snatching, not plague-like "contagion." They could change bodies, but one could not become two, nor two become four. Otherwise, he would already have been attacked.

As his words fell, the two guards suddenly began to laugh sinisterly, their laughter eerie.

The two drew their blades at once and lunged at Ning Xuan.

Bang!!

The two of them shattered.

Black smoke shrieked as it dispersed.

Ning Xuan stood beneath the moon, gazing into the distance in the direction of Ping'an Prefecture.

He had never heard of a demon calamity of this scale.

The only reason he had believed for sixteen years that he lived in a low-martial world was because the imperial court had always possessed absolute control over demons and monsters.

But now, that control seemed to be crumbling.

Something terrible was happening.

Ping'an Prefecture might only be a microcosm.